They make false oaths a means of protection: اِتَّخَذُٓوا اَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً. When conduct threatens to expose them, they swear themselves innocent and protect their lives and property from the consequences. Behind this shield they continue to turn others from Allah’s path: فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَب۪يلِ اللّٰهِۜ. The same formulation elsewhere stands among knowingly false oaths and the Day when such people will swear before Allah as they swore before human beings. What served them as a defense before people cannot deceive the One before whom they finally stand.

The next verse explains their condition: اٰمَنُوا ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا فَطُبِعَ عَلٰى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ. They believed, then disbelieved. Their hearts were sealed, so that they do not understand the reality of faith. Elsewhere, those content to remain behind when called to faith and striving are likewise described as having sealed hearts. The judgment follows their refusal; it does not turn that refusal into innocent ignorance.

Revelation now retrains sight and hearing. تُعْجِبُكَ اَجْسَامُهُمْۜ: their bodies impress you. وَاِنْ يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْۜ: when they speak, you listen to their speech. Their handsome appearance and eloquence hold attention. Then comes the image: كَاَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌۜ—as though they were propped timbers. Seated in the Messenger’s gathering, they resemble wood leaning against a wall: substantial forms that contribute none of the faith and good expected from those present. Elsewhere a man’s pleasing speech accompanies fierce hostility, and admonition brings out his sinful pride. Appearance and eloquence cannot settle what conduct reveals.

Behind the impressive exterior is fear: يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْۜ. They imagine every cry directed against them. A shout need not concern them for them to hear a threat in it. Elsewhere the hypocrites fear a revelation disclosing what is in their hearts. Here their alarm contrasts with their imposing appearance. Yet fear does not make their hostility harmless: هُمُ الْعَدُوُّ فَاحْذَرْهُمْۜ—they are the enemy, so beware of them. قَاتَلَهُمُ اللّٰهُۘ اَنّٰى يُؤْفَكُونَ calls down Allah’s curse upon them and expresses astonishment at their turning from the truth.

The next scene tests their response to an invitation to repent: تَعَالَوْا يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ—come, so that Allah’s Messenger may seek forgiveness for you. They must acknowledge their fault, not repeat a declaration of innocence. Their answer is bodily: لَوَّوْا رُؤُ۫سَهُمْ. They turn their heads away. The bodies that impressed now disclose their refusal, and its character is named: يَصُدُّونَ وَهُمْ مُسْتَكْبِرُونَ. They turn away, too proud to seek forgiveness. The Messenger whom they claimed so emphatically to acknowledge is the one they will not approach in repentance.

After that refusal, the Prophet is told: سَوَٓاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ اَسْتَغْفَرْتَ لَهُمْ اَمْ لَمْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْۜ لَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللّٰهُ لَهُمْۜ. Whether the Messenger seeks forgiveness for them or does not, Allah will not forgive them. They persist in disbelief and rebellion; the Prophet’s prayer cannot secure pardon for them in that condition. This is not a denial of repentance’s possibility: elsewhere those who come repentantly to the Messenger find Allah accepting of repentance and merciful, and hypocrites who repent, reform, hold fast to Allah, and devote their religion sincerely to Him are counted with the believers. Here the invitation is met by turned heads.

Allah answers: وَلِلّٰهِ خَزَٓائِنُ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَالْاَرْضِ. The treasuries of the heavens and the earth belong to Him. Those who withhold their own support do not close His treasuries. Al-Jumuʿah has just shown some believers dispersing toward arriving trade; here the hypocrites seek to drive the Messenger’s needy followers away by withholding support. In both passages, Allah is the giver of the provision on which people depend.

Their second boast threatens expulsion: لَئِنْ رَجَعْنَٓا اِلَى الْمَد۪ينَةِ لَيُخْرِجَنَّ الْاَعَزُّ مِنْهَا الْاَذَلَّۜ. If they return to Madinah, the mightier will expel the more abased. Ibn Ubayy meant himself and his party by the mightier, and the Messenger and believers by those to be expelled. The answer overturns their claim to superiority: وَلِلّٰهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِه۪ وَلِلْمُؤْمِن۪ينَ. Might and honor belong to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers. Allah’s might is His own; theirs is bestowed through their relation to Him. Elsewhere, those seeking honor through allegiance to disbelievers are reminded that all honor belongs to Allah. The boast cannot give Ibn Ubayy the superiority he claims.

Each boast is answered by وَلِلّٰهِ: to Allah belong the treasuries; to Allah belongs might. The hypocrites speak as though their wealth determines who can remain and their strength determines who must leave. Both claims overlook the One who provides and grants honor. Their lack of understanding, named earlier after the sealing of their hearts, now appears in these concrete judgments about provision and power.

The address now turns to believers: لَا تُلْهِكُمْ اَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَٓا اَوْلَادُكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللّٰهِۚ. Do not let your wealth or your children distract you from Allah’s remembrance. The care they require must not displace prayer and the other acts of worship through which Allah is remembered. Neither wealth nor children are condemned; the loss belongs to those who become so occupied with them that they neglect Him. The positive counterpart elsewhere is a people whom neither trade nor sale distracts from remembrance, prayer, and giving. The believers’ answer to the preceding portrait must therefore include how they use their own time and wealth.

The reversal is exact. The hypocrites say, لَا تُنْفِقُوا: do not spend. Allah says, وَاَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ: spend from what We have provided you. Those who have just heard that the treasuries belong to Allah are now reminded that their own wealth is His provision. They are to give from it before death ends their opportunity.

The collective address narrows to one person: مِنْ قَبْلِ اَنْ يَأْتِيَ اَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ. Spend before death approaches one of you. Faced with its signs, the person asks, رَبِّ لَوْلَٓا اَخَّرْتَن۪ٓي اِلٰٓى اَجَلٍ قَر۪يبٍۙ—my Lord, if only You would grant me a little more time. He names what he would do: فَاَصَّدَّقَ وَاَكُنْ مِنَ الصَّالِح۪ينَ—give in charity and be among the righteous. Elsewhere people promise the same two things if Allah grants them His bounty, then withhold it when it comes; Allah makes hypocrisy the consequence of their broken promise and lies. Giving must not remain something one will do only after receiving more wealth or obtaining more time.

Once the appointed term arrives, even the right desire cannot create more time. وَلَنْ يُؤَخِّرَ اللّٰهُ نَفْسًا اِذَا جَٓاءَ اَجَلُهَاۜ: Allah will not grant anyone more time once their appointed term has come. Elsewhere a disbeliever overtaken by death asks to return and do good, but his request cannot bring him back to the life he has left. Wrongdoers facing punishment likewise ask for a brief delay in which to answer the call and follow the messengers. The circumstances differ, but the unfulfilled request exposes the same urgency: the opportunity for obedience is to be used before it ends.